Friday, September 27, 2013

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Coming
together is a beginning.

Keeping
together is progress.

Working
together is success." — Henry Ford

You
need to put a Herculean individual effort to get the same result that a
well-knit team could easily achieve. The key to building a successful team is
to instill in all the team members a sense of shared responsibility. In
addition to sharing the responsibility, a wise team leader will also generously
share the credit for success.

A
second important element of success is rapport, which the manager or team
leader bears much of the burden for creating. When each team member feels that
s/he plays a vital role, the outcome will almost certainly be an enthusiastic,
productive team. Note that this applies not only to teams but also to
organizations in general.

Successful
team leadership is therefore a bit of a balancing act. The leader must be able
to inspire and motivate the team, which requires a certain amount of charisma,
vision, trust, and strength of character. However, if taken too far, these traits
may backfire on the leader. For example, the leader may overestimate his/her
influence over the rest of the team, or grow arrogant, or push the team too
hard. This sort of extremism can easily jeopardize the team’s performance;
warning signs might include stress, short tempers, and the inability to meet
deadlines.

Organizations
that cultivate a culture of teamwork generally outperform their more
individualistic competitors. Frequently, this leads to a virtuous cycle of
self-improvement, as success breeds enthusiasm, which breeds better teamwork,
which breeds yet more success. For this reason, teamwork is important for
creating a healthy, prosperous organization.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Living
in New England you become accustom to seeing the migration of Geese. As the leaves start turning colors the Geese
head south for the winter. But did you know that we can learn a lot about
leadership from geese? It’s true! Animals can teach us valuable lessons about
life. It is truly amazing how humans can relate to them just by observing their
behavior.

Many
years ago, I was given a copy of “Lessons from Geese” as part of an
organizational leadership program I was enrolled in. To this day, it is still
my favorite leadership analogy. The story was written in 1972 by Dr. Robert
McNeish, a science teacher from Baltimore, Maryland and has since been used as
a study lesson by many leadership institutes, consultants, organizations, and
corporations.

We
all know how important leadership and teamwork are in today’s
organizations. We can use the five
principles presented in the “Lessons from Geese” story as inspiration to
practice good leadership and teamwork skills as we implement Lean.

Fact
1: The Importance of Achieving Goals

As
each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By
flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than
if each bird flew alone.

Lesson:People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they
are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one
another.

Fact
2: The Importance of Team Work

When
a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of
flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the
lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it

Lesson:If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where
we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

Fact
3: The Importance of Sharing

When
the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose
flies to the point position.

Lesson:
It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with
geese, people are interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities and
unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

Fact
4: The Importance of Empathy and Understanding

The
geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their
speed.

Lesson:
We need to make sure honking is encouraging. In groups where there is
encouragement the production is much greater. The power of encouragement (to
stand by one’s heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of others)
is the quality of honking we seek.

Fact
5: The Importance of Encouragement

When
a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and
follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is
able to fly again. Then, they launch out with another formation or catch up
with the flock.

Lesson:
If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult
times as well as when we are strong.

"Lessons
from Geese" provides a perfect example of the importance of team work and
how it can have a profound and powerful effect on any endeavor. When we use
these five principles in our personal and business life it will help us to
foster and encourage a level of passion and energy in ourselves, as well as
those who are our friends, associates, or team members.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Simply,
sustainability is about lasting change. Sustainability is discussed often and
one of the great issues in management.
We have all seen facts related to the low rates of sustaining change or
seen news about a company who lost its way.Unfortunately, we see all too often those
companies who finally reach #1 to only lose their way.

Complacency
can and will compromise the performance of your organization. Everyone can
become complacent in their particular environment, and there are different
levels of complacency. At higher management positions, complacency may be more
latent. At the line personnel “trigger pullers” level, however, complacency can
have catastrophic results.

When
it comes to complacency with regard to Lean it is often the result of a “We are
Lean” mindset. This leads to a reduction in awareness/focus and leads to a
false sense of security. For Lean to work effectively, the organization must be
constantly focused on continuous improvement and best practice procedures for
providing value. What sets an effective Lean system apart from simply reducing
waste is ingraining continuous improvement thinking into daily practice. Lean
is not about a destination but rather journey.

Charles
Darwin said "It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most
intelligent, but the ones who are most responsive to change" which holds
true for culture change.

Below
are ten factors that will help any organization make the change they make
lasting.

Capability – Management must
employ the time and resources necessary for change.

Intention – Determination and
drive for the cause is required. You
must insist we make the change and be determined to keep it up.

Success – People feel
happier and perform better when there is a feeling of success and vice
versa. Attitude drives performance so
managers must project confidence.

Hard Work – It is hard to keep
it going. This is entropy. Without it, the system runs down.

Emphasis on the team
not the individual
– In the US we love heroes, but actually teams are more fundamental for
long-term survival. Teams need to be
mentored and developed.

Many small wins, rather
than the occasional big win – Small wins keep up the enthusiasm, and certainly add
up. Management needs to continually
recognize small wins.

Attitude toward
failure
– Everyone fails from time to time, but what is crucial is the attitude toward
failure: do you punish or do you treat it as part of learning?

Motivation – Sustainability
requires interest and involvement of all employees. Ask "What gets rewarded around
here? Build a culture to support
improvement.

Discipline – Make it a
habit. Without good disciple the system
will not be maintained. Management must
teach discipline and correct lapses with respect for people as they occur.

Performance measures – It is true you get
what you measure, drive good behavior.
Performance measures need to be aligned with what you want to
achieve. Think long term.

There
is no such thing as self-sustainability, it requires ongoing effort. Sustainable
behavior change is not something that occurs as a result of doing a 30 or
90-day program, nor is it something that you master after doing it for a year.
Change takes a daily commitment to put in the time and energy, knowing that the
return on that investment is great.

Lean
(excellence) is a journey that never ends. There will always be a gap between
where you are (current state) and where you would like to be (True North).
Since there will always be a gap, there will always be an opportunity to
improve. Walking the path on a Lean journey can be an overwhelming experience.

Lean
grew out of years of practice and experimentation at Toyota. No matter how much
better they are than their competition, they continue to find more and more
opportunities to improve each and every year. Lean involves the creation and
implementation of continuous experiments to improve your strategies over time.
This means experimenting with every process every day to get it right. We learn
problem solving through hands-on improvement experiments. In Toyota and in lean
thinking, the idea is to repeat cycles of improvement experiments forever.

A
Lean journey is full of steps not all of which are forward. Failure will occur.
Its ok, the purpose is learning, and we learn through experimentation. Trying
new approaches, exploring new methods and testing new ideas for improving the
various processes is exercise for the mind.

So
leaders must create a culture that puts failure in its proper place: a useful
tool for learning, and a natural part of iterative experimentation. Management
must avoid the temptation to harshly judge unsuccessful ideas. A leader who
allows for experimentation sends a clear signal that personnel are encouraged
to find better methods and products.

Organizations
embarking on a Lean journey should follow a disciplined process of systematic
exploration and controlled experimentation. Kaizen is the process which
determines whether processes resulted in improvements. It refers to an on-going
activity by all people (including managers) to relentlessly and incrementally
change and improve practices in small experiments.

The
road to continual improvement is a rocky one with many ups and downs. Value the
incremental improvement approach to continuous improvement. Through simple,
common-sense, and low cost experimentation a great deal of process improvements
can be made. Experimentation is the exercise of a healthy Lean journey.
Understanding this allows one the opportunity to stay on the path along the
journey.

I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own.

Friday, September 20, 2013

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"People cannot be "managed." They can be led. Products and processes can be managed." — Karen Martin

While
the terms "management" and "leadership" overlap a little,
they are not the same thing—although you can't have one without the other.
Management is tough enough on its own and, frankly, most people never learn to
lead.

Why
do we use the word manager? It does not
seem to identify well what a person is meant to do when given a team of
individuals to work with. A manager
controls, handles and directs. That
sounds pretty hard when what we are referring to being managed is people. The word “manager” is great when referring to
the management of processes, procedures, technique, communications,
relationships, etc. When referring to an
individual who is made accountable for a group of people, the word “leader”
seems more appropriate. People do not
like to be managed, they would rather be led: given goals to achieve,
techniques to learn from and follow, and review to let them know how they are
doing.

Leading
by example is a great way to start. Why
would anyone follow a procedure if their leader does not? If you want your team to say something during
the ordering process then you too should be saying it every time! If you want your team to take a specific action
while performing a task, then you should be taking that same action every time.
You cannot just tell your team what to do if you want them to continue to do it
even when you are not watching. You have
to show them that it needs to be done, even if you have to do it yourself. Your team will take notice and they will
respect you for expecting no less from yourself than you expect from them. They will then have no reason not to do what
you are asking, no excuses.

When
a person is given the title of manager, they should keep in mind that they have
been given the authority to manage processes and procedures. They have also been given the opportunity to
lead a team of people to do something better than they ever did before!

Do
you like to be managed or led? You're not alone. Very few people want to work
for a manager. Most of us would much rather be led by a leader. To manage is to
control, handle, or manipulate. To lead is to guide, influence, or persuade.
You manage things — systems, processes, and technology. You lead people. The
roots of the rampant morale, energy, and performance problems found in many
organizations are technomanagers who treat people as "human
resources" to be managed. If you want to manage someone, manage yourself.
Once you master that, you'll be a much more effective leader of others.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips. It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey. Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Casting the vision is not enough. Starting out is always the most difficult
part, but do not let the vision fall flat.
Revisit, reinvent, and restrategize until the flow becomes natural. Get advice by networking with other Lean
companies, and do not give up.

Lean Tip #782 - Be Flexible, but Committed.

This is absolutely a must. The very nature of change is enough to
generate discord and frustration. It
instantly pushes some people out.
Although those voices are sometimes the loudest, they are almost never
the majority. Be flexible in
implementation, but committed to the goal.
Those who remain typically show higher productivity, and a stronger
commitment to the company and to the vision.

Lean Tip #783 - Foster Excitement, Motivation,
and Engagement Around The Vision By Articulating The WIFM (What’s In It For
Me) Factor.

Let your employees know how they will benefit
from embracing the vision. Explain and reinforce the financial rewards when the
goals of the vision have been achieved, such as bonuses, recognition, and
career development.Share the vision frequently through staff
meetings, outings, newsletters, emails, posters and employee campaigns. Develop
visuals, such as tables, charts and photos, which highlight milestone
accomplishments of the vision.

Create and align company goals with the vision,
and align individual and team goals with company goals.

For many employees, workgroup relationships and
relationships between managers and workers drive engagement and loyalty more
effectively than foosball machines, logo T-shirts, and Thirsty Thursday
gatherings.

Lean Tip #785 - Model The Behaviors You Seek From
Employees.

Just as the principle at the high school did,
accept your responsibility as a leader and act with engagement, commitment and
responsibility. Do this every day.

Each of us possesses skills, strengths, talents
and flaws. Each of us seeks to belong, to be engaged, to relate to those around
us. Loyalty is built on relationships, shared understanding and trust.
Engagement and commitment require loyalty, shared goals and fair treatment.
Don’t take loyalty and engagement for granted – create a remarkable culture
where there are possible and rewarding outcomes of the workplace.

We are only human after all – Every one of us.
Every leader. Every brand. Every workplace. Every person.

Lean Tip #786 – Create A Good Climate For Problem
Solving

The
success of a company can depend to a large extent on the ability of its staff
to solve problems effectively, both in their day-to-day work and through
innovation. This applies not only to senior management, but at all levels in an
organization.

It's
not enough simply to teach effective problem solving techniques. The working
environment has a very powerful influence on the individual's ability to solve
problems effectively and it needs to be supportive and stimulating.

To
be truly effective in your work and to contribute to the success of your
organization, you need to be aware of the influence of the working environment
on problem solving.

Analytical
or logical thinking includes skills such as ordering, comparing, contrasting,
evaluating and selecting. It provides a logical framework for problem solving
and helps to select the best alternative from those available by narrowing down
the range of possibilities (a convergent process).

Creative
thinking is a divergent process, using the imagination to create a large range
of ideas for solutions. It requires us to look beyond the obvious, creating
ideas which may, at first, seem unrealistic or have no logical connection with
the problem.

Lean
Tip #788 – The Way or Style of Management Within an Organization Has a Very Big Effect on the Ability of People to Effectively Solve Problems.

Often
managers are not even aware that their actions and behaviors are contributing
to the problem.People
who have responsibility for and control over the work feel a greater commitment
to ensuring that they work efficiently. Staff should be given the freedom to
make decisions and to tackle problems without constantly having to get
agreement from their manager. Some managers feel that this lessens their
control over staff and their work. In fact, because people are more committed
to their work, there is less need for control.

Lean
Tip #789 - Planning and Preparation is the Key to Successful Implementation.

The
more important the problem, or the more complex the actions required to solve
it, the more thorough your planning and preparation needs to be to ensure
success.

These
questions highlight the main features of planning and preparation, which
involve:

constructing a plan of action

the actions required

scheduling the actions

the resources required

measures to counter adverse
consequences

management of the action

reviewing the plan

selecting, briefing and training
those involved.

Action
must be monitored to ensure that it is being carried out effectively and having
the desired effects; if not, corrective action must be taken. Once the action
is completed, the outcome must be measured to check that it has provided an
effective solution; if not, further action may be required.

Possessing
good problem solving skills does not make people automatically use them to the
benefit of the organization. They need encouragement, support and guidance in
applying them to the organization’s problems. This can be achieved through:

Commitment to Innovation

Systems and procedures

Reward

Good communications

The
most effective system is where all staff are informed of specific problems
which the company faces in reaching its business objectives, and are notified
of the results of evaluation of the ideas that have been submitted.

Lean
Tip #791 - Make Sure Everyone Understands the Need for Change.

There
are no mind readers in the enterprise - make sure you communicate why you need
to change.So
when you’re responsible for making process improvement happen make sure that
before you even begin that you’ve clearly communicated to others about the need
for change: what is the situation we’re facing? why is it serious or important?
what do we believe we need to do to start addressing the situation?

Finally,
don’t forget to listen to others' interpretations – they may be able to see
something that you can’t.

Just
because you’ve got a hammer, doesn’t mean every problem’s a nail!

We’re
often tempted to apply the tools that we know in order to solve the problems
that are in front of us. But just because you’ve got a tool doesn’t mean it’s
the most appropriate one to use. Always ask, is this the most appropriate
method to tackle this problem? Would a more simple “Just Do It” approach be
adequate or do we require more robust data analysis in order to get to the
heart of the issue? A pragmatic approach is better than one that attempts to
pigeon-hole everything into the same approach.

Lean
Tip #793 - Get Your Senior Managers Out of Their Offices.

The
more senior you are in an organization, the more that problems - and even
customers for that matter - can appear like just a series of numbers on a
spreadsheet in a management report. It’s easy to theorize about numbers as they
appear abstract.

The
Lean management principle of going to where work gets done ("going to the
gemba") is critical to ensure that managers really understand what’s going
on. Get your senior staff out of their office and to see what's really going
on. Even better than “management by walking around” is “management by doing and
understanding.” Get your CEO manning the phones in the “customer contact
center” for a few hours a couple of times a year or on frontline service. The
amount they’ll learn in those few hours will beat any amount of staring at
spreadsheets trying to solve the company’s problems.

Lean
Tip #794 - The Best Way to Build Commitment is by Involving People.

Outside
help is legitimate if you are to build the skills and behaviors you don’t
currently have. But outside consultants can never be the change agents. The
teams themselves and the leadership must own their own projects, from choosing
what to work on, through to implementation, as well as enjoying the credit for
outcomes.

The
best way to build commitment is by involving people. This way they will have a
sense of ownership. By involving your frontline teams in selecting the project
that they believe will make a difference, you’ll build ownership, engagement,
and have their commitment.

Lean
Tip #795 - Communicate 'Why Are We Doing What We Are Doing'

Do
not launch an improvement program without a purpose. Bereft of a purpose there
is no framework for establishing priorities, aligning efforts or judging
success. Many improvement processes fail because the effort is squandered in
improving unimportant processes.

Monday, September 16, 2013

The
second annual MFG Day event, is just around the corner. Scheduled for October 4, 2013, the event aims
to address common misconceptions about manufacturing through coordinated open
houses across the United States. MFG Day is designed to address the skilled
labor shortage and connect with future generations while simultaneously
improving the public image of manufacturing.

Recent
global surveys reflect the widespread industry challenge. A 2012 McKinsey &
Company report revealed that while most of the young people surveyed (70
percent), admitted that they believe vocational schools are more helpful in
getting a job than an academic track, two-thirds also said that vocational
education is “less valued” in society than other academic paths. And only 30
percent of parents encourage their children to consider manufacturing careers.

MFG
Day is an important part of efforts to support the future of manufacturing here
in the US. As manufacturers today, we know that negative, untrue stereotypes
plague our sector and drive young people away.
We know that we have to overcome the perception that manufacturing jobs
are dirty, dangerous dead ends. We know
that we must spread the word that manufacturing has gone high tech, with
modern, clean facilities, computers, robot, and automation. We know that counteracting outdated, negative
images with current, positive ones is the best way to fight problems like the
skills gap that threaten the American manufacturing sector's recent boom.

And
MFG Day is just the way to do what we know we must. MFG Day gives manufacturers
around the country the opportunity to open their doors to local school kids,
parents, community college students, job
seekers and members of the media so that they can see firsthand the safe,
high-tech and innovative work environments that await the best and brightest
who pursue careers in manufacturing.